Judas Iscariot, the Suicide of Satan, and the Salvation of the World (Luke 22:1-6)

Judas Iscariot, the Suicide of Satan
& the Salvation of the World
Luke 22:1-6

INTRODUCTION:
In a small town in north Georgia, I attended the first couple of years of high school. The school was so small, we had all the grades from 1st-12th grades under one roof. The chemistry teacher was promoted to the assistant principal position which meant that the school had to find another chemistry teacher. Due to budget constraints, the computer science teacher, since he had had one or two classes in chemistry in college, was assigned to teach chemistry.

On Mondays, he would say, “Read through chapter such and such, do the problems at the end of the chapter, and we’ll have a test on Friday.” And that was all the chemistry I had. So, I learned to play chess. At one point during the school year, the guys who were playing chess decided to have a chess tournament. There were 17 guys, no girls. We each put $1 into a kitty and whoever won the tournament won the $17.

It came down to me and another guy. We played the first game, with all these teens standing around watching, to a stalemate. I suggested that we just quit and split the money. The other guy said no. So, we played again and he won.

Sometimes when you play chess, you have to sacrifice some pieces, even of high value, in order to accomplish your goal. If you lose the king, of course, you lose the game. But in order of points, you have the queen (9 points / pawns), then the rooks or castles (5 points or pawns), and then the bishops (3 pawns / points) and knights (3 pawns). The pawns are the least valuable piece.

My best friend, Darren King, and I would play chess and sometimes, if he was losing, he would act like he was stretching and “accidentally” knock over the chess pieces!

Flip Wilson liked to say, “The devil made me do it.” We’re going to look into a “cosmic chess match” tonight between God and Satan and see how Satan uses Judas Iscariot as a pawn in this chess match. But, without even realizing it, the devil is going to lose, and lose big time. Luke 22…

THE SETTING:
During the final Feast of Unleavened Bread, also called the “Passover,” the chief priests and scribes were seeking how they could put Jesus to death but they feared the people.

Judas was one of the twelve. This is only the second time in Luke that Judas is mentioned. The first time was in 6:16 in the list of apostles, the “twelve.” “Iscariot” may mean “man of “ Kerioth, a city in the south of Judea.

SATAN ENTERS JUDAS:
We were told back in Matthew 26:14 that Judas went to the chief priests and contracted with them to deliver Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. Verse 16 says, “from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.”

The apostle John mentions Judas much more frequently than Matthew, Mark, or Luke. In John 6:71, Jesus asked His disciples, “Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” John will write that Jesus spoke of Judas “for he, one of the Twelve, was going to betray Him.” In the number of occasions where Jesus made that prediction, no other apostle ever pointed his finger at Judas. There is no indication that Judas was anything but faithful and loyal to Christ up to the events recorded in John 12.

When Jesus’ feet were anointed by Mary, it was Judas who complained about the waste of money: “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” (John 12:4). John will write that he did not worry about the poor. He had charge of the moneybag and used to help himself to what was inside. So, we see that Judas had a problem with money.

It is during the institution of the Lord’s Supper, during the Passover Feast, that Jesus points out to the apostles that one of them would betray Him and they all said, “Lord, is it I?” But He said, “It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I dipped it.” He dipped the morsel and gave it to Judas. Satan entered into him. Jesus told him to proceed with what he had planned to do - “What you are going to do, do quickly.” Judas left the Lord’s presence, His Savior’s presence, and went out to do just that.

Here in our text, Luke 22:3, Satan entered into Judas. Judas allowed himself to fall under the influence of Satan. Jesus told His disciples back in 11:24-26 that if you get rid of Satan’s influence but you do not fill the space and time with God’s influence, Satan will return worse than ever, sevenfold worse than ever, and the last state of that man will be worse than the first.

Being influenced by Satan, Judas went out and discussed with the chief priests and officers how he might betray Jesus into their hands. But when Satan motivated Judas to betray Jesus, it was his own downfall. It was his own suicide.

Judas Iscariot had left the world of selfish living. But he still harbored some covetousness in his heart. He did not fill his heart with Christ’s selfless love and he allowed Satan to come back in. This time, it was worse than the first.

SATAN COMMITS “SUICIDE”:
The chief priests agreed to give Judas money so Judas began seeking an opportunity to betray Him while He was away from the crowd. He would do that, of course, when Jesus was alone in the Garden of Gethsemane.

But when Satan motivated Judas to betray Jesus, it was his own downfall. It was his own suicide.

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 2:8 that the rulers of this age did not understand the wisdom of God. If they had understood, Paul writes, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory! If Satan had known the betrayal was in God’s plans to send Jesus to the cross, he would not have motivated Judas to betray Jesus. He would have allowed Jesus to die a natural death at a good old age.

While we need to take Satan seriously, perhaps we give Satan far too much credit than he deserves. Satan is limited. He is not equal with God. He is not all-powerful. There is no equality between Satan and God or Satan and Jesus.

When you study the life of Job, you see that God limited Satan in what he could do to Job. If Satan could read Job’s mind, he would not have tempted Job. He would have left him alone, knowing that he was wasting his time. Satan does not know as much as we think he does. He is not as powerful as we sometimes give him credit for.

Satan does not know the Bible like we think he does. If he did, he would have known that the crucifixion of Christ was prophesied there and the resurrection was prophesied there! He would not have crucified the Lord of glory. He would have known that the betrayal of Jesus was predicted there as well.

Satan did not know Judas betraying Jesus fit into God’s plans - Psa. 41:9 (cf. John 13:18). He did not know the betrayal was predicted in Psa. 55:12-14. He did not know the cross was in God’s plans all along (Gal. 3:13; Deut. 21:23). He did not even know that Jesus was going to be betrayed for thirty pieces of silver (Zech. 11:12-13). Satan does not know everything!

Judas did not know it at that time and Satan did not know they are playing right into the hands and plans of God. By influencing Judas to betray Jesus, Satan was inadvertently fulfilling God’s plans to send Jesus into the world to destroy the works of Satan (cf. 1 John 3:8)! “In addition, a cosmic chess match comes to its crucial moment. Satan will put Jesus in check, but Jesus will make the final move that means checkmate” (Bock, 347).

Take home message: Don’t follow Satan. He doesn’t know where he is going!